Thursday, February 10, 2011

Southeast Remedy for Cold

As a kid, I use to get sick very often. Part of me enjoyed it because I get to miss school and stay home, but the other part of me was regretting it. My mom would yell out..."Get down here. It's time for me to fix you" in Vietnamese. I knew what that meant and walked downstairs with a quarter in one hand and Dau Xanh in the other. She told me to lay face down ---------------------------------------->and started to apply the balm on to my back. After that, she would ferociously rub my back with the quarter. This method was called Cao Gio in my language, which translated meant Carving Wind. My parents taught me that when I get a fever, it meant that my body absorbed too much wind. Therefore, it meant that my body's Yin & Yang was not balanced. In order to fix this problem, the person who was going to "coin" you (Mommy) would apply the balm and start rubbing. The idea was to create a passageway, vents, for all this extra wind to escape. The redder the lines, the more wind was going out of your body. Big red lines = really sick... small red lines = oh well, i guess i have to do it again later. I was always amazed at this little treatment because it was always effective for me. Yes I hated it as a kid, but now, I would have this done everytime I was sick. There is no evidence that this works or won't work, but I think it does. You can feel the wind getting pulled away from your body and, magically, you feel much better. The redness will go away in time, but that's just another reminder to tell yourself, DON'T GET SICK!

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Pseudoscience and the Paranormal

The popular media and self-help industry is rife with extraordinary claims. Alien experimentation, psychic detectives, mediums, ESP, extreme therapies and miracle products are all examples of how pseudoscience and the paranormal have become prevalent, popular and even an extremely lucrative enterprise. The majority of these examples defy the basic laws of science, logic and common sense yet they appeal to a large number of people. Here we will use science, specifically a psychological perspective to explore these popular theories and claims, and learn to think critically in order to be able to constructively evaluate them.